552 



NEBRASKA. 



N 



NAPOTHALIN. See DKUGS, NEW. 



NEBRASKA. State Government. The follow- 

 ing were the State officers during the year: 

 Governor, James W. Dawes, Republican; 

 Lieutenant-Governor, A. W. Agee ; Secretary 

 of State, Edward P. Roggen; Auditor, John 

 Wallichs; Treasurer, Phelps D. Sturdevant; 

 Attorney- General, Isaac Powers, Jr. ; Super- 

 intendent of Public Instruction, W. W. W. 

 Jones; Commissioner of Public Lands and 

 Buildings, A. G. Kendall. Judiciary, Supreme 

 Court : Chief -Justice, Amasa Cobb ; Associate 

 Justices, Samuel Maxwell and M. B. Reese. 



Finances. The condition of the State finances, 

 as shown by the reports of the State Treasurer 

 and the Auditor of Public Accounts, is highly 

 satisfactory : 



Balance on hand Nov. 30, 1882 $472,114 50 



Amount received 2,707,276 64 



Total amount received $3,179,891 14 



Total amount disbursed 2,736,574 15 



Balance in treasury Nov. 80, 1864 $442,816 99 



The State indebtedness is represented by the 

 following bonds : 



State relief bonds, due March 1, 1885 $50.000 00 



State funding bonds, due April 1, 1897 449,267 85 



Total State debt $499,267 85 



The assessed valuation of the taxable prop- 

 erty of the State in 1883 was $110,543,644.58, 

 and in 1884 it was $123,615,886.95, showing 

 an increase of $13,072,242.37. The rate of 

 taxation for State purposes for the year 1883 

 was 7A mills, and for the year 1884, 7ffg- 

 mills on a dollar, and there was collected dur- 

 ing that period the sum of $1,307,122.05. 



Pnblie Institutions. The Home for the Friend- 

 less, near Lincoln, was opened Jan. 1, 1882, 

 and has received 95 adults and 133 children. 

 Of these, 75 children were surrendered to the 

 home, of whom 57 have been placed in fami- 

 lies in the State. The Deaf and Dumb Insti- 

 tute, organized in April, 1869, has received 

 for instruction 211 pupils. During 1883 and 

 1884 the attendance was 141. The Institute 

 for the Blind was opened in January, 1876, 

 and has had 60 pupils. The building was in- 

 tended to accommodate 50; the attendance 

 during the last biennial period was 36. 



From the report of the superintendent for 

 the biennial term ending Nov. 30, 1884, it 

 appears that at the date of last report, Nov. 

 30, 1882, there were remaining in the Hospital 

 for the Insane, 273 patients. There were re- 

 ceived during the two years 410 patients, mak- 

 ing a total number of 683 that were treated 

 during this period. Of the number treated 

 323 were discharged, 144 of whom were re- 

 stored to mental health, 69 were much im- 

 proved, 63 unimproved, harmless, and incura- 

 ble were returned to their counties, 43 died 



during the two years, leaving in the hospital 

 Nov. 30, 1884, 360 patients, which exhausts 

 the utmost capacity of the present building. 

 At the rate of increase for the past two years, 

 it is estimated by the superintendent that not 

 fewer than 600 applications for the admission 

 of patients will be made during the coining two 

 years. Additional room must be furnished. 



Under the law regulating the management 

 of the State Reform School, boys and girls un- 

 der sixteen years of age, found guilty of any 

 crime except murder or manslaughter, may 

 be received. This school was established and 

 intended, not for punishment, strictly speak- 

 ing, but rather for education and reformation. 

 The school has 63 inmates. In August, 1883, 

 the contract was let for an additional building, 

 at a cost of $37,410, which is now ready. 



Needed improvements have been made at the 

 State Penitentiary during the past two years, 

 among which are the erection of afire-proof hos- 

 pital building, a more perfect w ater-supply, and a 

 thorough change in the system of sewerage and 

 drainage, greatly improving the sanitary con- 

 dition of the prison. The medical supervision 

 is excellent, and the state of health among the 

 prisoners is good. Under the contract system, 

 the convicts are furnished steady employment, 

 and their wants are well supplied. 



The warden, in his report of Nov. 30, 1882, 

 gave the number of prisoners as 261. Since 

 that time there have been discharged 131, 

 the number received being 178. The total 

 number confined in the penitentiary Nov. 30, 

 1884, was 259, and of that number 23 were 

 for life. 



Education. The following statistics will be 

 found of interest as showing the development 

 of the common schools : Total number of chil- 

 dren of school age, 209,403 boys, 108,998; 

 girls, 100,405. Total enrollment, 137,618 

 boys, 71,680; girls, 65,938. Total number of 

 teachers employed, 6,055 males, 1,906; fe- 

 males, 4,144. School -houses built in 1884, 

 309. Total number of school - houses, 3,662. 

 Total value of school property, $2,786,385. 

 The present permanent common-school fund 

 amounts to $3,977,216.81. The temporary 

 common-school fund showed a balance, in De- 

 cember, 1884, of $164,804.85. 



The attendance at the State Normal School 

 during the past two years has been 470. Num- 

 ber graduated, 89 ; the greater number of whom 

 are now engaged in teaching in the schools of 

 the State. This school is constantly growing 

 in public favor, the attendance for the past 

 two years being twenty per cent, greater than 

 for any like period in its history. The attend- 

 ance in all departments of the State University 

 during the last term was 282. In the College 

 of Medicine the attendance was 54. 



